Mage tactics
Talent Specialization & Tactics Mage tactics are heavily dependant on your level and talents. As a mage gets into the 20s, they will start to acquire a few more tools for surviving solo, and for accelerating the pace of combat within a group. Talent specialization has a large impact on mage tactics as early as level 10. Below each tree will be examined and compared to the others. Arcane Mastery Even in the teens, Arcane Talents can make fights easier to survive, and help keep a mage's mana supply higher. Five ranks in Improved Arcane Missiles right off the bat will allow a mage to cast Arcane Missiles uninterrupted, especially useful for point blank situations, when the mage is taking damage from one or more targets. Even most single enemies will require more damage than a mage can deal to them with ranged spells like Fireball, before they arrive in melee range--this talent ensures that the fight will end, no channeling required. Arcane Concentration becomes handy in longer fights, especially in groups within an Instanced Dungeon. Casting rapid-fire spells such as Scorch will raise a mage's chances of activating Clearcasting, letting them unleash a higher-mana spell such as Fireball or even Pyroblast completely free of cost. Evocation is another group friendly talent, and will help a mage fall back and recharge their entire mana supply when the situation is getting hairy. It is a channeled spell, so the mage will need to be untouched and standing still to receive the full benefit. Improved Arcane Explosion is a favorite of many high level mages, as it allows for the already quick Arcane Explosion to cast even faster. With 5 ranks, the AOE spell will no longer be interruptible, allowing the mage to continue his barrage even if he's being attacked by several enemies (which tends to happen when AOEs are used). Note that the global 1.5 second recast timer still applies, so this talent does not increase the mage's theoretical DPS with that spell. For the top-end mage, Arcane Focus may be desired, to allow his Arcane spells like Arcane Missiles to scratch raid monsters where other spells may fail. Arcane Subtlety may be a good choice for a mage absolutely in love with Arcane Explosion. The higher end Arcane talents are all very useful, but also self-explanatory, and they do not provide much in the form of new tactics. Fire Mastery Fire is, without question, the best way to deal insane amounts of damage. The downside is it lacks spells like Arcane Missiles and Arcane Explosion and their corresponding talents that make them uninterruptible, allowing an Arcane mage to carry on blasting where a Fire mage might be too busy getting smacked around to get his spells cast. This, of course, only really matters in high end group scenarios, where parts of an Instanced Dungeon may require someone to destroy a huge number of weaker foes as quickly as possible. However, Fire makes a strong line for solo play and intelligent group play. Impact is a highly desired low-level talent. When shooting monsters at range with Fireball the mage has a chance to stop the incoming beast long enough to toss yet another Fireball at it, increasing the odds that the fight will end before the enemy draws near enough to melee with the mage. Impact is also nice in groups, especially with rapid fire spells like Scorch, where your chances of landing the stun are even higher. Two seconds of an enemy standing there stunned instead of hitting the mage's friends could be the difference between life and death. Flame Throwing is yet another soloist's choice for giving them the extra edge over enemies, and ending their lives before they get within range to fight back. This is a great talent to develop for fighting other spell-casters. Usually, if you stay at your maximum range to cast your longest-ranged fire spells, the enemy spellcaster is out of their range, and will spend time enough running into their range that you can land 2 spells before they've cast a single. Improved Fireball also helps in this regard, but it is more notable because it is a prerequisite for the talent Pyroblast. Pyroblast is the highest Damage per Mana single target damage spell, and it does quite a bit of damage in a short amount of time, too, helping the mage end a fight even quicker. The downsides are the longer cast time and the recast timer, but using Pyroblast as much as possible is never a bad plan. It is great in groups against elites, and against enemy spell-casters as a long-ranged opener. (See Flame Throwing above) Burning Soul is a very handy talent for the dedicated Fire mage, allowing them to channel much better when getting hit. Used in combination with the very fast Scorch spell, a Fire mage may not need to rely on Arcane Missiles in combination with the Improved Arcane Missiles talent to kill his enemy in melee range. Note that a much smaller chance of being interrupted is still not as good as no chance of being interrupted, something a mage becomes keenly aware of when being attacked by 4 or 5 things. Blast Wave is another talent spell, and like Pyroblast, its great power is balanced by its recast timer. Blast Wave is instant, AOE, and dazes each enemy while dealing a large amount of damage to each. For the soloist, the 6 second daze may help control multiple opponents much like Frost Nova does, while the group mage will appreciate the ability to have more burst damage against a lot of foes, especially since it is uninterruptible. Combustion is the last Fire Talent in the tree, and is a guaranteed critical every 5 minutes. It has one very obvious use: combination with Pyroblast or Blast Wave for a truly huge nuke, when the times call for one. Most Fire Mages feel that the times usually call for one every 5 minutes or so. The other Fire Talents are rather self-explanatory, Critical Mass and Firepower along with Incinerate and Improved Scorch give the mage a very strong reason to never cast anything but a fire spell, if he can help it. Frost Mastery Frost is an interesting choice for a mage, as he will have to accept that he cannot match the damage power of the Fire Mage, nor the swarm destruction capability of the Arcane Mage. Frost is for those that are either in love with the Blizzard spell, or like to keep things as calm and under control as possible. The chill effect enhancements and other utilities of the Frost line ensure that a Frost Mage won't have any enemies fleeing from the fight. This is often argued to be only handy in PvP, but it can keep a group safer within an Instanced Dungeon, as the mage slows the pace of movement things tend to stay a bit more organized. Permafrost, Winter's Chill, Frostbite, Improved Blizzard, and Improved Frost Nova all help keep the mage's enemies moving at a nice, slow pace. The greatest downside of Blizzard is that it is a channeled spell, so taking damage destroys its usefulness. With Improved Blizzard and those other talents the mage has a better chance at landing the whole 8 seconds of damage, even if he enrages a few enemies that haven't been tagged by the rest of the group. Toss Shatter into the mix, and the Frost Mage's critical strikes will occur much more frequently, especially with frequent applications of Frost Nova to the enemies the mage is facing. Combine this with Ice Shards and even Piercing Ice, and the Frost Mage's damage will become very respectable, keeping him competitive with the Fire Mage. Ice Block is slightly useful in groups when the mage is being mobbed by a lot of monsters he probably shouldn't have used Blizzard on, but it is not worth much solo, as it locks the mage in place, thus preventing him from fleeing. Ice Barrier is much more handy, as it works exactly like the Priest spell Power Word: Shield, soaking up damage and allowing you to cast without interruption. All of the sudden another Blizzard can get thrown down when things are going sour in the mage's group, slowing the monsters down, and perhaps killing a few. Notes on Talent Selection Unless you always play with friends, it is smart choice to specialize your mage to be the best soloist possible in the early levels, when you'll almost always be going it alone. As you reach the higher levels, retraining your talents to be more useful to groups may be wise. A smart combination of Fire and Arcane, or Frost and Arcane, may give your mage the most versatility. Arcane Explosion or Arcane Missiles may just be the only thing you can use in some places with Fire or Frost resistant monsters, so keep that in mind. If you have a guild, find out what your other mages are specializing in at the higher levels. It would be silly for everyone to be a Fire mage when the guild is trying to win something like the Onyxia raid, when everything around is Fire resistant! In general, you should try to focus on talents that exemplify your preferred playing style. If you enjoy being a high-damage mage capable of destroying any monster you put your touch to, then you should focus on Fire talents and give yourself skills like Flamethrower, Pyroblast, Impact, and Ignition, all of which have the potential for doing large amounts of damage and burn over time. Impact at its maximum is incredibly valuable, as anything you can do to stun monsters for a few seconds is precious, and can mean the difference between life and death in certain cases. Pyroblast is the most amount of damage you can do in a single hit, so it makes a great "pull" tactic. With maximum Flamethrowing, your Fireball and Pyroblast spells can be used at 41 yards, which is more range than just about anything else in the game. A Pyroblast is a great way to start off a fight, since it has a 1 minute cooldown and a decent mana cost. The damage done can be enough to take any monster down a few notches, which gives you time and ability to prepare other damaging or affecting spells like Fireballs, Frostbolts, and whatever else you like. If you prefer group playing styles, where you would rather be a support character than a fire-throwing storm of doom, then you might want to consider what was mentioned above- Frost and/or Arcane. Although nothing can dish out as much damage as a well-trained Fire mage, Frost spells can be incredibly useful for controlling the battles a little bit better. Frost Nova is easily one of the most useful spells the mage can get, as it gives you the ability to instantly freeze any targets in a 10 yard radius from moving, which can give a beleaguered mage a running start. In a group situation, you can save your local tank (Paladin or Warrior) from some problems by freezing all the monsters chasing after him, giving you and other potentially ranged members of your group time to get a few good shots, or even just run out of there as fast as you can. Cone of Cold and Frostbolt are also helpful for slowing down mobs as they chase after you, which can also give your group members time to get away or launch an effect regrouping and reprisal. Another neat effect of frost spells that is often overlooked comes to the end of battle. Many monsters, when brought down to a small fraction of their health left, will try to run. In Instances and Dungeons where there are a lot of high-level aggressive monsters, a fleeing mob can easily summon others (the Stockades and Deadmines come to mind, where the Defias run and wake up just about every other mob witin 50 yards). In this case, what was an easy battle before may just be come the fight of your life, as your group may find themselves in the middle of more than eight or nine creatures of often equal or greater level. Preventing this is part of the job for the mages and ranged members of the group, since the Warriors and Paladins will have to run to catch up with them, which may not be in time, whereas the mages have spells that have low casting times (like Scorch, which does minor damage but has a fixed 1.5 sec casting time) or Instant Casts (like Fireblast). Using Frostbolt and other frost spells as your main tactic will keep them more or less permanently in a state of slowness- movement speed reductions are always helpful for killing off stragglers and runners before they turn the battle into a rout. The talents along the Frost line certainly add to this, by allowing you to give your chill effects greater strength and duration. Talents can be reconfigured by a trainer for 1 gold piece. You can "unlearn" all of your talents and reconfigure them as you wish. However, doing this often is a quick waste of a good gold piece that could go towards more equipment or Mana/Health potions and other such items to keep you alive. While you are choosing talents, it is better to focus on a certain line of the three (Fire, Frost, or Arcane) and dive into it with devotion than spread yourself too thin and find that your skills aren't as powerful as they should be. Reconfiguring should be saved for later levels, when you find that maybe you made some choices early on that you wish to change to make yourself better for playing the way you want to. Levelling up is a growing and learning experience, and you will find that your tactics and preferred methods of playing the mage may also change as you level up. It is at this stage that reconfiguring becomes a boon to change your setup from Solo Firebombing Mage of Doom That Dies In Melee to Powerful Group Controller and Gunner Mage. It all comes down to your preference and tactics. --Froderick Category:Mages